Please join us for the 7th Annual OCICU Conference, Engaging the Future of Online Learning, in Chicago, Illinois April 4-5, 2013.  The conference will begin on Thursday, April 4th at 8:30 am and will conclude on Friday, April 5th at 2:30 pm.

This two-day event has been developed specifically for OCICU members by OCICU members.  Conference sessions will be directly tied to "engagement" as it relates to learners, faculty, administrators, and online learning in general.  Participants will have opportunities to attend general session presentations, concurrent breakout sessions, round table discussions, as well as a special networking event (to be announced).

We're excited to announce that this year's conference will include a keynote by Barry Dahl, and a presentation from Cathrael Kazin of Southern New Hampshire University on SNHU's exciting new program, College of America.  We'll also feature presentations from  several OCICU Members and Plattform.

Register Now! 

A Special Networking Event

We're pleased to announce a special networking dinner will be held at Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse on Thursday, April 4th.  Thank you to Saint Leo University for sponsoring this great event!

 

7th Annual OCICU Confence Agenda (subject to change)

General Session Titles and Brief Descriptions

Keynote: Are We Amusing Ourselves to Death?

Barry Dahl

Based largely on the 1985 book “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” by Neil Postman, this is a journey looking at some of the questions related to edutainment and the current paths that higher education appears to be heading down. Network television forever changed the seriousness of public discourse related to politics, religion, and many other areas. Has the Internet and information technology had a similar effect on education? During this presentation we will consider the efforts to use technology to increase engagement for students - both successfully and unsuccessfully. Are the fears of 1984 finally coming true, or are we entering a Brave New World?

 

SNHU's College for America

Cathrael Kazin, J.D., Ph.D.

Cathrael Kazin is Chief Academic Officer for the newly launched College for America at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), an innovative, online, low-cost, competency-based program for underserved working adults.  She also serves as Chief of Assessment for the SNHU Innovation Lab.  Dr. Kazin joined SNHU from Educational Testing Service (ETS), where she served as Executive Director in the Higher Education Division.  She holds a Ph.D. in English from Cornell University and was a member of the University of Iowa English Department.  Dr. Kazin also earned a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was an editor of the Law Review.  During the first Clinton administration, she worked as both a civil rights attorney at the U.S. Department of Labor and as a speechwriter for Secretary Robert Reich.  She graduated from Smith College with a A.B. with Highest Honors in English.

SNHU was the only university to make Fast Company's 2012 list of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies, ranking 12th overall.

 

Real Facts, Real Expectations: What You Need to Know to Succeed with an Adult/Online Enrollment Marketing Plan

PlattForm

This presentation will be primarily focused on providing best practices for effectively planning, executing, reviewing, and optimizing your marketing dollars and overall admissions process. We will review opportunities that are often overlooked as well as common pain points encountered, such as: program mix, understanding the adult demographic and admissions. We will dig deeper into each of those areas and highlight strategies for ensuring success.

Walsh University: A Member's Experience with the OCICU

Jill Bair, Director of Operations, School for Professional Studies

Breakout Session Titles and Brief Descriptions

Revisting Current Trends 2013

	Maureen Hencmann
	Associate Director - Faculty & Curriculum Development

This session will provide an update about some of the current trends in distance learning that were discussed at last year's conference.  What has changed?  What has remained the same?  Is there anything new on the horizon?

 

Developing Leadership to Draw Out the Best in You

	Anthony Petrey, D.M
	Assistant Vice President, Online and Off-Campus Programs

An interactive workhop to learn how to bring leadership with you adn bring out the best in others.  Participants will learn the importance of positive psychology in the way successful leaders think, act and make decisions.  The right attitude and vision can help to develop a can-do attitude for enthusiastic leadership and positive relationship building.

 

Facilitating Communication Between Leadership and Faculty: engaging at the strategic level

	Blenda Crawford, Ph.D
	Professor

This session engages in a discussion around using OCICU as a strategy which serves both Leadership and Faculty.  It identifies key elements around which Leadership and Faculty can open and maintain dialogue.  This dialogue fosters innovation and creativity in approaches to ongoing curricular development and quality, judicious use of limited rescourses, and retention of students.

 

Converting a Traditional Course into an Online Fromat; Lessons Learned froma Faculty Perspective

	Joseph Elder, Ed.D Assistance Professor of Education
	Ann Marie Licata, Ph.D Assistant Professor of Education
	Michael Nerino, M.S. Director of Distance Education
	Miro Liwosz, M.S. Instructional Media Specialist

If you are teaching a traditional course and would like to convert it to an online courses, this workshop is for you!  Alvernia University faculty will share experiences, perspectives, and lessons learned, having recently incorporated proven e-pedagogy technologies into the building of online courses.  Topics include: Syllabus Development, Technology Requirements, Time Mangement, Instructional Design Tips, ePortfolio use to develop deep learning.

 

Prior Learning Assessment in the 21st Century

 

	Kristin Himmerick
	Director of Academic Technology and Student Engagement, CAEL

Prior Learning Assessment is an academically sound process for students to earn credit for college-level learning they obtained outside the classroom: through work, volunteerism, or online self-study, including MOOCs and open education resources. Participants will learn how states and institutions are employing new PLA strategies to improve student retention and graduation rates.  They will also find out how technology can enhance the student advising conversation.  Emerging PLA strategies will be discussed, an online PLA Credit Predictor tool will be demonstrated, and a case study will be used to involve participants in a discussion.

 

The Ups and Downs of Providership

	Darlene Scollon - Associate Director, Partnership Services
	Samantha Brown - OCICU Manager

This session will review the process to become a provider and discuss some of the most common issues and questions providers face.